Healthy Banana Bars

A little while ago I came across this recipe for Peanut Butter, Banana and Honey Road Cake. And this morning, as a reward for the busy day I had yesterday, I decided to finally enjoy some quality baking time. Unfortunately I didn’t have one of the title ingredients — honey. But the fact it was the healthiest banana bread I had stumbled across in some time (possibly ever) made me decide it was worth trying anyway. And the substitutions I made seemed to work out perfectly. The only thing I think I could have added but didn’t think of until it was too late was chopped walnuts. Walnuts are always a great addition to banana bread. Oh well — next time! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/4 cup Splenda (or other sweetener of choice)
• 1 egg (or flax egg if making vegan)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 heaping tablespoon creamy peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons apple sauce
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine banana, Splenda, egg, vanilla, maple syrup, peanut butter and apple sauce in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Ensure all banana lumps have disappeared.
3. Stir in flours, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
4. Pour mixture into a greased 8 x 8 baking pan. Even out mixture.
5. Bake in oven for 30-35 minutes. You can check on it at 25 minutes but I find the bananas cause the mixture to take a long time to cook.
6. Let cool for 10 minutes or so as bread will continue to cook on the inside and then serve.

Note: Loaf can easily be cut into squares which are convenient to take with you as a quick snack or breakfast on-the-go.

Gratitude of the day: Not being a teenager anymore

Sometimes when I’m down I feel compelled to make a list of all the things I’m grateful for. The list is usually quite serious and introspective — filled with thing like “my family” and “having a safe home”. But today I would like to express my gratitude for something far simpler — not being a teenager anymore.
All it took was a gaggle of adolescents getting on the subway next to me to make me realize how grateful I am to be done with that part of my life. Normally when I see a group of teenagers yelling across a streetcar or smoking on the corner of school grounds I roll my eyes and struggle to suppress my irritation. But something about this particular lead me to a revelation of how happy I am not to be in that age bracket anymore. Clawing for attention, desperate to understand who they are, wishing they felt they fit in, questioning each and every decision they make because the whole notion of “just be yourself” makes absolutely no logical sense, feeling they have to buy this electronic or that purse because they can’t possibly be cool without it, pushing to get in a comment so they can establish they have a place in the crazy world that is high school. Man. Did that ever suck!
Lately magazines are filled with celebrities saying they feel better than ever at 30, at 40, at 50 — whatever age it is — my gosh, it has to be better than 13 through 18. You couldn’t pay me to relive that ridiculous insecurity and self doubt. I’m not saying I radiate self love and confidence every second of the day, but I certainly feel a whole lot better about myself than I did five years ago and that is something to be truly grateful for.

Treating yourself to something you really need

You know what’s a beautiful moment? When you finally decide to invest in something that you really really need. Like when you’ve been walking around in a pair of shoes with a hole in them for months and then finally take the plunge and buy yourself a new pair. Or when your hair is getting so long that it’s a tangled, frail mess and you manage to make it to the hairdresser for the cut of a lifetime. For me, the luxurious purchase I made was a brand new bed.

After sleeping on a single-sized half a century old bed for three years I finally took the plunge and bought myself a glorious new one. It’s a double, it’s pillow-top and it’s 100% magnificent. I can’t help but get into it at night and feel a little bit of joy wash over me (and perhaps a note of relief that my years of sleeping on a board are behind me). Granted, I am still in need of a headboard as lacking in one has caused a slight kink in my neck. But still – this is one investment I know I will be reaping the rewards of for years to come. So if there’s something you’ve been meaning to buy but have been putting off – quit it! Get out there and treat yourself!

My tawdry love affair with the Kobo eReader

It’s official. I am in love with the Kobo eReader. I never thought it would happen. I’ve always said I love real books. I love the feel; I love the smell; I love the pretty covers; I love browsing the library to pick them up. But I now have a new love and it’s a little magical tablet that holds all my favorite books in a pretty little case that I can read anywhere.

The funny thing is I don’t even have one of my own. My mom lent me hers and I can’t get enough of it. It’s so easy to read it anywhere! While you walk, at the gym, lying in bed. I don’t get dizzy or lose my place or have my fingers cramp up. And I don’t even feel like I’m looking at a screen. It’s madness! If you have yet to experience its glory – you simply must – whether you have to beg, borrow or steal!

I’m back!!

I have something to confess.

When I began this blog almost a year ago (tomorrow will be the 11 month anniversary) — I set out with somewhat of a secret goal. My goal was simple: I wanted to never have to write an I-apologize-for-my-absence post. You know the ones… they’re all over the blog-o-sphere. People get busy with work, and life and forget all about their wee old blog and then a week or a month or a year later they return and apologize for the time they’ve been away and plan to refocus on their blog. I never wanted to have to write such a post. However, an even less ideal situation would be to be one of those people that gives 110% to their blog for months and then seems to disappear into thin air. I would far rather be the former than the latter. And so here I am.

Now, it must be explained that my absence was for good reason. I have two big passions in life. Acting and writing. And by some crazy turn of fate, some foolish but amazing people decided I just might be able to take a stab at doing those things professionally. With all the professional writing I was doing, I was spending hours upon hours every day hunched over my computer. I loved the work but the spasm in my neck, carpal tunnel in my wrists and searing back pain were not such fans. However, I continued plowing on, loving every minute of it. But despite my love of the work, I am not strictly speaking, a technology person. I like to go for runs, I like to sew, I like to cook — and when I was making my money writing, I had far less time for all those things. And whenever I finally did have a small crack of time, I plowed into my favorite activities away from the computer for as long as I could. But that didn’t leave much time for this little old blog of mine. But now that I have gotten used to the hours of writing and how to sort my schedule a little better, I think it is high time I return to this wonderful project.

So, in the spirit of positivity, I declare that this is not an I-apologize-for-my-absence post — it is an I-am-so-glad-I-made-it-back post. My posts may not be as frequent as they once were but I’m going to try my darndest to post at least once or twice a week. Because, they are My Happy Happenings and there’s a lot to be happy about.

Glad to be back!